The end of an era is near: In movie theaters across the country, film projectors are rapidly being replaced by digital projectors. Paul Clipson, projectionist at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gives us what may be a last-chance look at the tools and techniques—including lightning reflexes—at work in 35 mm film projection.

Meet Pi Day founder Larry Shaw, and join hosts Ron Hipschman and Lori Lambertson to find out what’s so special about pi—the irrational number that results from dividing the circumference of a circle by its diameter. Learn the history of pi and how pi is calculated, be entertained by pi limericks, and see a cool pi demo. Pie.

In this age of iPods and MP3s, the vinyl record (still) stands as an object of curiosity and ongoing admiration. What’s the real difference between a 78 and a 45? Why do they call it “cutting a record” when an album is recorded? Music enthusiast Wade Wright of San Francisco takes us back in time to explain the history and technology of vinyl records.

Senior Exploratorium Scientist, Paul Doherty demonstrates how you can make your own sun viewer. You can safely view sunspots, eclipses and transits with this equipment that you may have laying around the house!
To learn more about the upcoming Transit of Venus visit: http://www.exploratorium.edu/venus/question3.html

Beneath the 100-year-old piers that will soon house the new Exploratorium, highly specialized divers are working around the clock to repair and restore a part of the museum that most people will never see: the 1,200 concrete piles—sunk into the bay mud—that support the piers.

Every winter, the Exploratorium’s Science of Cocktails event presents the artistry of master mixologists shaken with the science behind the craft. Guest mixologists will join us from popular San Francisco bars to mix delicious cocktails, while guests participate in interactive science experiments about alcohol, inebriation, hangovers, cocktail creation, and more.
Music by Wayne Grim

San Francisco has more restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city, producing tasty meals—and thousands of gallons of used cooking oil. See how the SFGreasecycle program is turning this grease glut into fuel for the city's bus fleet.

Open Make is a monthly program at the Exploratorium, in collaboration with Make Magazine and Pixar Animation Studios, to highlight the tools, techniques, and ingenuity of local makers. As part of this program, makers from the Bay Area will be highlighted to share their work with the public, and Dale Dougherty, founder and editor of Make Magazine will interview Featured Makers in the McBean theater. Join us for live webcasts of the interviews to see what these makers are up to!

Webcasts made possible through
the generosity of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Jim Clark
Endowment for Internet Education, the McBean Family Foundation,.and the Corporation for Educational Networks Initiatives in California (CENIC).